57FR10163

Federal Register / Vol. 57, No. 57 / Tuesday, March 24, 1992 / Notices

together or (2) the furnace is designed to

operate using an unvarying delay time

that is other than 1.5 minutes, in which

case the fan control shall be permitted

to start the blower, or (3) the delay time

results in the activation of a temperature

safety device which shuts off the burner,

in which case the fan control shall be

permitted to start the blower. In the

latter case, if the fan control is

adjustable, set it to start the blower at

the highest temperature. If the fan

control is permitted to start the blower,

measure time delay, (t-), using a

stopwatch. Record the measured

temperatures. During the heat-up test for

oil-fueled furnaces, maintain the draft in

the flue pipe within ±0.01 inch of water

column of the manufacturer's

recommended on-period draft.

(iii) With the exception of the

modifications set forth above,

SUMMARY: Notice is given of the

Decision and Order (Case No. F-039)

granting a Waiver to Ducane Company,

Inc. (Ducane), from the existing

Department of Energy (DOE) test

procedure for furnaces. The Department

is granting Ducane its Petition for

Waiver regarding blower time delay in

calculation of Annual Fuel Utilization

Efficiency (AFUE) for its FPBA series of

gas furnaces.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Cyrus H. Nasseri, U.S. Department of

Energy. Office of Conservation and

Renewable Energy, Mail Station CE-43,

Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585,

(202) 5869127.

Eugene Margolis, Esq., U.S. Department

of Energy, Office of General Counsel.

Mail Station GC-41, Forrestal

Armstrong Air Conditioning, Inc. shall Building, 1000 Independence Avenue,

comply in all respects with the test SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202)

procedures specified in appendix N of 10 583'9507•

CFR part 430, subpart B. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In

(3) The Waiver shall remain in effect accordance with 10 CFR 430.27(g), notice

from the date of issuance of this Order is hereby given of the issuance of the

until DOE prescribes final test Decision and Order as set out below. In

procedures appropriate to the Hbt'C and the Decision and Order, Ducane has

HW series of central gas furnaces been granted a Waiver for its FPBA

manufactured by Armstrong Air series of gas furnaces, permitting the

Conditioning, Inc. company to use an alternate test method

(4) This Waiver is based upon the in determining AFUE.

presumed validity of statements, Issued in Washington. DC. March 13, 1992.

allegations, and documentary materials I. Michael Davis,

submitted by the petitioner. This Waiver Assistant Secretary, Conservation and may be revoked or modified at any time Renewable Energy.

upon a determination that the factual

Decison and Order basis underlying the petition is

incorrect. In the matter of: The Ducane Company. Inc.

(5) Effective (Insert Date of Issuance), (Case No. F-039).

this Waiver supersedes the Interim

Waiver Background C

granted Armstrong Air

Conditioning, Inc. on November 27,1991. The Energy Conservation Program for

56 FR 63941. December 6 1991 (Case No. Consumer Products (other than

F-038). automobiles) was established pursuant

Issued in Washington, DC, March 11, 1992. to the Energy Policy and Conservation

J. Michael Davis, Act (SPCA), Public Law 94-163, 89 Stat.

917, as amended by the National Energy Assistant Secretary Conservation and Conservation Policy Act (NECPA), Renewable Energy. Public Law 95-619, 92 Stat. 3266, the

[FR Doc. 92-5783 Filed 3-23-92; 8:45 am] National Appliance Energy

arwNO CODE "so-of-M Conservation Act of 1987 (NAECA),

[Case No. F-0391

Energy Conservation Program for

Consumer Products; Decision and

Order Granting a Waiver From the

Furnace Test Procedure to Ducane

Co.,, Inc.

AGENCY: Office of Conservation and

Renewable Energy, Department of

Energy.

ACTION: Decision and Order.

Public Law 100-12, and the National

Appliance Energy Conservation

Amendments of 1988 (NAECA 1988),

Public Law 100-357, which require DOE

to prescribe standardized test

procedures to measure the energy

consumption of certain consumer

products, including furnaces. The intent

of the test procedures is to provide a

comparable measure of energy

consumption that will assist consumers

in making purchasing decisions. These

test procedures appear at 10 CFR part

430, subpart B.

10163

DOE amended the prescribed test

procedures by adding 10 CFR 430.27 to

create a waiver process. 45 FR 64108,

September 26, 1980. Thereafter, DOE

further amended its appliance test

procedure waiver process to allow the

Assistant Secretary for Conservation

and Renewable Energy (Assistant

Secretary) to grant an Interim Waiver

from test procedure requirements to

manufactures that have petitioned DOE

for a waiver of such prescribed test

procedures. 51 FR 42823, November 26,

1986.

The waiver process allows the

Assistant Secretary to waive

tempdrarily test procedures for a

particular basic model when a petitioner

shows that the basic model contains one

or more design characteristics which

prevent testing according to the

prescribed test procedures or when the

prescribed test procedures may evaluate

the basic model in a manner so

unrepresentative of its true energy

consumption as to provide materially

inaccurate comparative date. Waivers

generally remain in effect until final test

procedure amendments become

effective, resolving the problem that is

the subject of the waiver.

The Interim Waiver provisions added

by the 1986 amendment allow the

Assistant Secretary to grant an Interim

Waiver when it is determined that the

applicant will experience economic

hardship if the Application for Interim

Waiver is denied, if it appears likely

that the Petition for Waiver will be

granted, and/or the Assistant Secretary

determines that it would be desirable for

public policy reasons to grant immediate

relief pending a determination on the

Petition for Waiver. An Interim Waiver

remains in effect for a period of 180 days

or until DOE issues its determination on

the Petition for Waiver, whichever is

sooner, and may be extended for an

additional 180 days, if necessary.

Ducane filed a "Petition for Waiver,"

dated October 1, 1991, in accordance

with section 430.27 of 10 CFR part 430.

DOE published in the Federal Register

on December 10, 1991, Ducane's petition

and solicited comments, data and

information respecting the petition. 56

FR 64510. Ducane also filed an

"Application for Interim Waiver" under

section 430.27(g) which DOE granted on

November 27, 1991. 56 FR 64510,

December 10, 1991.

, No comments were received

concerning either the "Petition for

Waiver" or the "Interim Waiver." DOE

consulted with The Federal Trade

Commission (FTC) concerning the

Ducane Petition. The FTC did not have

CAS-RM-79-104 COMMENT 77
57FR10163

10164 Federal Register / Vol. 57, No. 57 / Tuesday, March 24, 1992 / Notices

any objections to the issuance of the

waiver to Ducane.

Assertions and Determinations

Ducane's Petition seeks a waiver from

the DOE test provisions that require a

1.5-minute time delay between the

ignition of the burner and the starting of

the circulating air blower. Ducane

requests the allowance to test using a

30-second blower time relay when

testing its FPBA series of gas furnaces.

Ducane states that since the 30-second

delay is indicative of how these models

actually operate and since such a delay

results in an improvement in efficiency

of approximately 1.0 percent, the

petition should be granted.

Under specific circumstances, the

DOE test procedure contain exceptions

which allow testing with blower delay

times of less than the prescribed 1.5-

minute delay. Ducane indicates that it is

unable to take advantage of any of these

exceptions for its FPBA series of gas

furnaces.

Since the blower controls

incorporated on the Ducane furnaces are

designed to impose a 30-second blower

delay in every instance of start up, and

since the current provisions do not

specifically address this type of control,

DOE agrees that a waiver should be

granted to allow the 30-second blower

time delay when testing the Ducane

FPBA series of gas furnaces.

Accordingly, with regard to testing the

FPBA series of gas furnaces, today's

Decision and Order exempts Ducane

from the existing provisions regarding

blower controls and allows testing with

the 30-second delay.

It is, therefore, ordered that.

(1) The "Petition for Wavier" filed by

Ducane Company, Inc. (Case No. F-039),

is hereby granted as set forth in

paragraph (2) below, subject to the

provisions of paragraphs (3), (4), and (5).

(2) Notwithstanding and contrary

provisions of Appendix N of 10 CFR part

430, subpart B, Ducane Company, Inc.,

shall be permitted to test its FPBA series

of gas furnaces on the basis of the test

procedure specified in 10 CFR part 430,

with modifications set forth below:

(i) Section 3.0 of Appendix N is

deleted and replaced with the following

paragraph:

3.0 Test Procedure. Testing and

measurements shall be as specified in

section 9 in ANSI/ASHRAE 103-82 with

the exception of sections 9.2.2, 9.3.1, and

9.3.2, and the inclusion of the following

additional procedures:

(ii) Add a new paragraph 3.10 to

Appendix N as follows:

3.10 Gas- and Oil-Fueled Central

Furnaces. The following paragraph Is in

lieu of the requirement specified in

section 9.3.1 of ANSI/ASHRAE 103-82.

After equilibrium conditions are

achieved following the cool-down test

and the required measurements

performed, turn on the furnaces and

measure the flue gas temperature, using

the thermocouple grid described above,

at 0.5 and 2.5 minutes after the main

burner(s) comes on. After the burner

start-up, delay the blower start-up by 1.5

minutes (t-). unless: (1) The furnace

employs a single motor to drive the

power burner and the indoor air

circulating blower, in which case the

burner and blower shall be started

together, or (2) the furnace is designed to

operate using an unvarying delay time

that is other than 1.5 minutes, in which

case the fan control shall be permitted

to start the blower, or (3) the delay time

results in the activation of a temperature

safety device which shuts off the burner,

in which case the fan control shall be

permitted to start the blower. In the

latter case, if the fan control is

adjustable, set it to start the blower at

the highest temperature. If the fan

control is permitted to start the blower,

measure time delay, (t-), using a

stopwatch. Record the measured

temperatures. During the heat-up test for

oil-fueled furnaces, maintain the draft in

the flue pipe within -0.01 inch of the

water column of the manufacturer's

recommended on-period draft.

(iii) With the exception of the

modifications set forth above, The

Ducane Company, Inc. shall comply in

all respects with the test procedures

specified in Appendix N of 10 CFR part

430, subpart B.

(3) The Waiver shall remain in effect

from the date of issuance of this Order

until DOE prescribes final test

procedures appropriate to the FPBA

series of gas furnaces manufactured by

The Ducane Company, Inc-

(4) This waiver is based on the

presumed validity of statements,

allegations, and documentary materials

submitted by the petitioner. This Waiver

may be revoked or modified at any time

upon a determination that the factual

basis underlying the petition is

incorrect.

(5) Effective March 24.1992, this

Waiver supersedes the Interim Waiver

granted The Ducane Company, Inc. on

November 27, 1991. 56 FR 64510,

December 10. 1991 (Case No. F-039).

Issued In Washington, DC, March 13,1992-

1. Michael Davis,

Assistant Secretary. Conservation and

Renewable Energy.

(FR Doc. 92-6784 Filed 3-23-92; 8:45 am)

SIWNO COOS 5450-4t-U

(Case No. F-0M1

Energy Conservation Program for

Consumer Products; Granting of the

Application for Interim Waiver and

Publishing of the Petition for Waiver of

Furnace Test Procedure From

Goodman Manufacturing Co.

AGENCY: Office of Conservation and

Renewable Energy, Department of

Energy.

SUMMARY: Today's notice publishes a

letter granting an Interim Waiver to

Goodman Manufacturing Company

(Goodman) from the existing

Department of Energy (DOE) test

procedure for furnaces regarding blower

time delay for the company's GDPS,

CUPS, GDPI. GUPI, GDPX, GUPX, GUN.

and GUS series of central gas furnaces.

Today's notice also publishes a

"Petition for Waiver" from Goodman.

Goodman's Petition for Waiver requests

DOE to grant relief from the DOE

furnace test procedure relating to the

blower time delay specification.

Goodman seeks to test using a blower

delay time of 30 seconds for its GDPS.

GUPS, GDPI, GDPI, GDPX, GUPX, GUN,

and GUS series of central gas furnaces

instead of the specified 1.5-minute delay

between burner on-time and blower ontime. DOE is soliciting comments, data,

and information respecting the Petition

for Waiver.

DATE: DOE will accept comments, data,

and information not later than April 23,

1992.

ADDRESS: Written comments and

statements shall be sent to: Department

of Energy, Office of Conservation and

Renewable Energy, Case No. F-)44, Mail

Stop CE-90, room 6B-025, Forrestal

Building, 1000 Independence Avenue,

SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-

3012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Cyrus H. Nasseri, U.S. Department of

Energy, Office of Conservation and

Renewable Energy. Mail Station CE43, Forrestal Building, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington. DC 20585, (202) 586-912,7.

Eugene Margolis, Esq., U.S. Department

of Energy, Office of General Counsel,

Mail Station GC-41, Forrestal

Building. 1000 Independence Avenue,

SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202)

586-9507.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Energy Conservation Program for

Consumer Products (other than

automobiles) was established pursuant

to the Energy Policy and Conservation

Act (SPCA), Public Law 94--163, 89 Stat.

917, as amended by the National Energy

CAS-RM-79-104 COMMENT 77